NowNS: Ivany Report marks N.S. as post-secondary education hub

A bagpiper leads a procession of graduates of the University of King's College throught the grounds of Dalhousie University to the All Saints Cathedral for the 2006 graduation ceremonies.

What does the 2014 Ivany Report have to say about Nova Scotia’s 10 post-secondary education institutions and the part they need to play in the province’s socio-economic turnaround?

Nova Scotia is home to 10 universities with specialties ranging from undergraduate-focused Acadia University to medical research university Dalhousie and more tightly-focused institutions such as NSCAD, the Atlantic School of Theology and Université Sainte-Anne, the province’s only French language university. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia hosts the multi-campus Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), arguably now one of Canada’s leading applied and technical colleges.

From this relatively unique starting point, the One Nova Scotia Commission tasked with overseeing the report’s implementation believes the province, “not unlike the New England state of Massachusetts” should leverage its high concentration of universities and colleges as a “fundamental asset for economic growth.”

Says the report “The universities and NSCC represent one of Nova Scotia’s greatest comparative advantages. These institutions are major employers in their communities, they generate the lion’s share of research and development activity in the province and they increasingly function as an export sector with growing numbers of out-of-province and international students.”

The report points to a 2011 study by Gardner-Pinfold Consulting Economists, The Export Value of Nova Scotia Universities, which attributes $840 million in annual export revenue to the province’s degree-granting institutions. Financial services, ICT and other knowledge-based businesses have located in Nova Scotia during the past several years “specifically because of the capacities of the college and university system to supply necessary talent,”the report said.

In addition to enabling entrepreneurism, the report recommends post-secondary institutions:

• Improve the capability to attract immigrants, while preparing them to stay after graduating. (See stories: Dalhousie international students, business owners bond and Learning gap with Chinese students solved, Chronicle Herald April 25.)

• Better harness their research and development capabilities, especially when it comes to closer and more effective collaboration with government and the private sector, “to drive innovation and business start-ups in leading edge sectors.” (See story: Halifax startup aims to turn treating bone fractures into outpatient procedure, Chronicle Herald June 13.)

• Link with and support the development of new centres for business incubation and innovation throughout the province.